The Death of Voldemort
by Cat Calls
Summary: Something Harry does brings about Voldemort's demise in a way we would never have expected. I apologize for making Harry look so saint-like, but I couldn't really help it.


Disclaimer: I take no credit for this work, and probably wouldn't want to anyhow, since JK Rowling is such an absolutely amazing wonderful fantastic spiffing corking....I could go on.  
  
The Death of Voldemort By Cat Calls  
  
The dream team had been surrounding Voldemort on three sides. Ron on his left, Hermione, though injured was on his right, and Harry was eye to eye with his nemesis.  
The fight was over before it had begun. It seemed that Voldemort was tired of explaining his actions before he committed them.  
He raised his wand. "AVADA KEDAVRA!" "NO!" Hermione yelled at the atrocity, and leapt for Harry. I her anger and her rush, she tripped and fell on her injured leg. "Ron help!" She reached for Harry, and knew she was too far away, and couldn't stand up. Voldemort turned his wand on Hermione, who was now grasping her leg in pain, and shivering.  
But Ron couldn't see what he could do now. It was over. They didn't even need to check Harry's pulse. They knew he wouldn't have one. All he could do now was offer his life to protect Hermione. His last friend. He leapt over Harry's body now lying lifeless in the dirt, stood right in front of the injured girl and pointed his wand at Voldemort.  
"You will kill me, and leave her alone." He spoke slowly and firmly. "I give my life for her." He said, narrowing his eyes on the spectacle in front of him, his wand nearly touching the tip of Voldemort's. Hermoine gasped and tried to push Ron out of the way.  
"Ron, no... don't. Please don't." she wept. Ron kept her behind him without looking at her.  
Voldemort hissed back. "And what makes you think that I won't kill her after I've killed you?"  
"Because I know something about magic that you don't."  
A glimmer of worry crept into Voldemort's eyes. "And what's that?" he sneered, trying to keep up the appearance of being in control.  
"When someone gives their life to save someone else's it creates an impenetrable bond. A bond of pure love that can't be broken. I will save her if it is the last thing I do."  
"That's very imaginative mister Weasley. And I suppose you're going to kiss her goodbye too. How heartwarming." He remarked dryly. The confident smirk was back on his lips. Ron could tell that he didn't believe in that type of magic. Ron believed in it. It was the only thing that had kept Harry safe for the past sixteen years. But it hadn't helped him tonight. Harry's mother's power was not strong enough to help him now.  
Ron shook his head. "It isn't necessary. She knows how I feel." Hermione let out a small squeak and was sobbing loudly, trying to clasp Ron's robes to her face. Ron tried his utmost to ignore her pleas. "You should be worried, Voldemort."  
A growl escaped Voldemort's curled lips. "You dare to utter my name? Bad enough to do that elsewhere, but you say it in my presence!" he roared.  
"I do. I want you to kill me... Voldemort." Ron added impudently.  
"Death would be too kind a punishment."  
"And here I thought you saw death as the worst of all punishments Voldemort."  
"CRUCIO!" Ron had pushed him a little too far, and as he heard the word leave the snarling lips, he cringed against the onslaught of the pain curse.  
It never came.  
He heard a gasp, and Ron opened his eyes. Voldemort had suddenly collapsed in front of him.  
It wasn't long before he was back on his feet though, and he shakingly aimed his wand back at Ron.  
Ron was confused, and by the sound of her lack of sniffles, so was Hermione. They stared at Voldemort as if he had a pumpkin for a head.  
"Crucio!" he said again, less firmly, and with a shudder in his voice.  
Again, the pain did not come, and it was Voldemort himself who collapsed into the dust.  
A glimmer of hope shot through Ron, and he made a quick decision.  
"What, can't seem to get it to work hmm?" he lowered his wand, and tapped with a look of impatience on his left hand. "I always knew you were a bloody coward Voldemort."  
Voldemort sneered at him, and stood to face him once more, again pointing his wand into Ron's face.  
"I'm surprised that you have so many followers what with the number of brain cells you have."  
Hermione pushed Ron's robe away from her face, and looked around at Voldemort. Her eyes were red from crying, but a gleam of triumph was now on her face. "I think you seem to have lost your touch, Voldemort."  
"Silence! I will not take insults from a filthy MUDBLOOD!!" Voldemort's voice quavered and rose to an earsplitting volume.  
Hermione and Ron didn't even wince.  
A faint bluish glow was emanating from somewhere. Voldemort paid no heed to it, and Ron and Hermione disregarded it under the pressure of facing down the most evil wizard of their time.  
"What's wrong?" Ron quibbled in a baby voice. "Is itty bitty Voldemort having a bad day?"  
"Are you CRANKY, Voldemort?" Hermione asked in the same demeaning tone. "Maybe all you need is a little nap to calm you down." She giggled through her pain, and Ron chuckled with her.  
The sound of their laughter seemed to throw Voldemort into a small fit. The blue light seemed to be glowing everywhere now, but Voldemort was entirely unaware of it as he threw out his wand hand, steady now that he's had some time to recover.  
"I will end this NOW! Once and for all!" He screamed.  
"Then do it already." Ron said with a great smile on his face. "I'd like to see you TRY!"  
"AVADA KEDAVRAAAAAAH!" Voldemort's last syllable turned into a terrified screech.  
He writhed in place and his eyes widened. The look of absolute terror and pain seemed to be locked in place in his eyes.  
He went silent, and collapsed.  
Ron and Hermione looked on perplexed as the body before them began to decay. It decayed at a rate so fast they would not have seen it happen had they blinked. The skin turned ash grey and shrunk to reveal muscle and blood beneath. The muscle and blood turned to dust and was swept away by an invisible wind. It decayed until all that was left of the most evil wizard in the world was skeleton, robe and a thin wooden wand.  
The blue light had not disappeared. The light rose around them all and seemed to be radiating in on one spot. It was so bright that the two friends had to shield their eyes from it. The heat that blasted them now was almost scorching their skin, and Ron ducked his body to shield Hermione's.  
A loud crack rent the air, and Ron hugged tight to Hermione. The magic in the air was so strong they could feel it. It filled their pores and choked their lungs.  
They were both about to scream with the heat, when the light dimmed, and the heat diminished. Ron looked up hesitantly and waited for his eyes to adjust to the darkness again.  
He gasped, and nearly fell over backwards. He nudged Hermione in the side to get her attention.  
There, standing in the place he fell was Harry Potter, eyes closed and arms outstretched, glowing with an ethereal blue light. No, not standing, Ron decided abruptly. Floating. The halo that surrounded Harry seemed to be emanating directly from... his heart. Slowly their friend's feet touched the ground, and the light dissipated further. They could see that he had his own wand clutched tightly in his right hand, but it didn't seem to be doing anything. Harry's eyes snapped open, and stared firmly at Ron and Hermione. Ron didn't know if he should see Harry's reawakening as a bad thing or a good thing, as he wasn't completely sure that it was actually Harry, and Voldemort hadn't just jumped into his friend's body. Hermione obviously didn't think of the possibility. She gasped, and let out a sob of joy. "Oh Harry!" "H-Harry?" Ron stuttered. "Is-is that you?" Harry didn't answer. Ron saw now that the light that had been so bright was contracting back into a small sphere around his friend's heart. He could see that Harry was covered in sweat, and his arms were shaking. Ron could now see Harry's lungs expanding with oxygen and contracting again in heavy labouring puffs. The ever dimming sphere of light now flickered out and closed in around Harry's heart. A few seconds later, Harry's arms dropped weightless to his sides, and his wand fell out of his hand. He took a step, then another towards his friends, then Ron moved forwards to catch him as he fell. "Harry?" Ron asked again. More confident in himself now that the strange light was gone. Harry's eyes opened tiredly again, and he looked at Ron. "I always thought I'd have to say the words." He mumbled. "What?" Ron asked, confused. He began to think that maybe something had happened to Harry's head with all that light and dying and everything. "With that stupid prophecy. I always thought I'd have to actually do the killing curse on Voldemort." "He's dead." Said Ron, looking over at the pile of robe and skeleton that had been Voldemort. Harry looked at him, and smiled. "I know." "What? How did you know? What did you do to him mate? I couldn't figure it out. All that light everywhere..." Ron trailed off "I didn't have to do anything Ron. He did it himself." Harry smiled weakly at him. "Oh, I might have been thinking a little something along the lines of not minding dying as long as he couldn't hurt anyone anymore. I'm not really sure what did it, but I just knew then... everything I needed was here." Harry lifted his hand to his heart, and patted it. "Ron!" Hermione called to get his attention, "Harry what did you do? My leg is..." she trailed off, and when Ron looked over, she was flexing her toes which were out of her shoe, and feeling along the length of her leg. It was no longer broken. "Did I do that?" Harry asked her. "Well you must have hadn't you?" she said. "It was pretty obviously broken before. Now it's just... not." She finished unnecessarily. She then turned to her two friends. "Are you okay Harry? You scared the hell out of me. I thought you were dead!" She said, sparkles of tears still clung to her lashes. "I think...I might have been." Said Harry. "This is going to be another one of those unexplained things that professor Dumbledore used to keep the truth from us isn't it." Hermione asked, sounding incredibly Ron-like at that moment. "Probably, but it doesn't matter how it happened now does it?" Ron shook his head uncomprehendingly. "It matters, because I was able to save the Wizarding world without the use of Dark Magic." Harry spoke, his voice clearer and stronger. "I was able to use my love of everything and everyone magical to save them all." He sighed, and began to recite. "The one with the power to vanquish the dark lord approaches... born to those who have thrice defied him... born as the seventh month dies... and the dark lord will mark him as his equal..." Here, Harry traced the thin lightning bolt scar on his forehead. "But he will have power the dark lord knows not..." Here, Harry place his hand lightly over his heart. "And either must die at the hand of the other, for neither can live while the other survives." He looked over at the jumble of robes on the ground beside them. "The one with the power to vanquish the dark lord will be born as the seventh month dies." It was the first time that Harry was able to utter those words with the hint of a smile on his face. "I think I can live now." He said quietly. And he once again, traced his finger along what he now could see as a sign of love rather than of hate. The one part of him that he had always thought Voldemort had given him. But now he could see that it was actually a gift that his mother had given him out of love. The lightning bolt scar. 


End file.
